Scope and Contents

The Lima Locomotive Works, Inc., Service Department Records document the activity of the service and sales department of Lima Locomotive Works. The records consist of 5" x 7" cards.

Scope and Contents

The Lima Locomotive Works, Inc., Service Department Records document the activity of the service and sales department of Lima Locomotive Works. The records consist of 5" x 7" cards.

Arrangement

The collection is one series with sixteen subseries.

Series 1, Service Department Records, 1919-1949

Subseries 1.1, Locomotive Number, undated

Subseries 1.2, Town Cards, 1919-1949

Subseries 1.3, Shay Locomotives in the United States, 1919-1949

Subseries 1.4, Shay Locomotives in Canada, 1919-1949

Subseries 1.5, Shay Locomotives in Foreign Countries, 1919-1949

Subseries 1.6, Direct Locomotives in the United States, 1919-1949

Subseries 1.7, United States Dead Files, 1919-1949

Subseries 1.8, Foreign Dead Files, 1919-1949

Subseries 1.9, Locomotive by United States Location, 1919-1949

Subseries 1.10, Locomotive by Canadian Location, 1919-1949

Subseries 1.11, Locomotive by Foreign Location, 1919-1949

Subseries 1.12, Inactive Shay Locomotive Owners, 1919-1949

Subseries 1.13, Visit Records, 1919-1949

Subseries 1.14, Dead Shay Ownership Cards, 1919-1949

Subseries 1.15, Road Repairs in the United States, 1919-1949

Subseries 1.16, Road Repairs in Canada, 1919-1949

Biographical / Historical

Founded in 1879, Lima Locomotive Works manufactured locomotives in Lima, Ohio. James Alley contracted the Lima Locomotive Works (then Lima Machine Works) to build the locomotive designed by Ephraim Shay. A few years later, the first Shay Geared Steam Locomotive was off the production line and on the rails. The Shay Geared Steam Locomotive became an especially popular mode of transporting lumber not only in the United States, but world wide. What made it different was the unusual cylinder arrangement. Two vertical cylinders drove a crankshaft, which in turn drove a pair of geared trucks through a system of universal joints and sliding shafts. By the 1940s, companies were seeking out a faster mode of rail transportation, and the Lima Locomotive Works ceased production of the Shay Geared Steam Locomotive and began its Diesel Locomotive line.

In 1947, General Machinery Corporation and Lima merged to form the Lima-Hamilton Corporation. By this time, the corporation focused solely on the Diesel Locomotives, but still faltered. The Lima-Hamilton Corporation merged with Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1950 to form Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton (BLH). Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton discontinued the production of the Lima-Hamilton's Diesel Locomotive, and only produced Baldwin's Diesel. Unable to keep up with its competitors, BLH stopped all locomotive production in 1956, and in 1980, BLH finally closed its operations.